Apple says sorry

Written by Mark Evans

02/01/2018

Apple has apologised for deliberately slowing down older iPhones to conserve their battery life.

Rather than giving users the choice to extend battery life or keep the phones working faster, Apple reduced the operational speed without informing owners, but the company says it will make it cheaper to replace batteries and issue software to monitor battery health.

Apple’s own statement notes that some users have felt “let you down” by the policy, and that it would not do anything to “intentionally shorten the life of any Apple product, or degrade the user experience to drive customer upgrades” in reply to suggestions that the policy was a way to help drive sales.

Apple is also reducing the price of an out-of-warranty iPhone battery replacement by GBP54 — from GBP79 to GBP25 — for the iPhone 6 or later whose battery needs to be replaced.